Rubenstein Communications, Inc., Public Relations
Brady Littlefield – 212-843-9220 / blittlefield@rubenstein.com

                        Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Luke Sacks – 646-381-5282 / lsacks@intrepidmuseum.org

New York, NY (January 8, 2013) – The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum today announced that more than one million people visited the museum in 2012, the highest recorded attendance in the 30-year history of the museum and the first time it has surpassed one million visitors in a single calendar year.  The landmark number was achieved despite the 8-week closure of the museum during peak tourist months during the holiday season due to damages incurred from Hurricane Sandy, and is led by the arrival of Space Shuttle Enterprise, which has been on display at the museum since July 2012.

“We are thrilled to have reached such an extraordinary milestone, to have had one million visitors, during the museum’s 30th Anniversary and the year that the Space Shuttle Enterprise joined the collection at Intrepid,” said Susan Marenoff-Zausner, President of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.  “This feat is complemented by the increasing popularity of our annual Fleet Week and Kids Week activities, as well as our year-round education programs that offer dozens of unique activities to New Yorkers and tourists alike.”

The Space Shuttle Pavilion, supported by new partners Time Warner Cable and Samsung, opened July 19th, drawing a 53.4% increase in museum attendance over the same period in 2011 before closing on October 29th due to Hurricane Sandy.  The exhibit remains closed while preparations are made to install a new inflatable dome and rebuild the exhibit interior.

Other 2012 highlights included the largest Fleet Week and Kids Week celebrations in the Intrepid Museum’s history, as well as the popular Intrepid Summer Movie series, which continued to screen in front of capacity crowds, and the launch of the first-ever “Samsung Spacefest,” a 4-day event that coincided with the opening of the Space Shuttle Pavilion. The museum offered an increased number of on-ship education workshops, after-school camps and leadership programs, distance-learning programs and teacher development programs in 2012, as well as hosted a number of successful special events including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “Hiring Our Heroes” job fair, The Colbert Report’s “Stephfest Colbchella ‘012 Rocktaugustfest,” Showtime’s “Homeland” Season 2 Premiere, the Robin Hood Foundation’s Veterans Summit, Sony’s “MIB3” movie premiere after party, and many more.

The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is proudly supported by Time Warner Cable, Coca-Cola, J&R Music and Computer World and Samsung.

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About the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Now home of the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum complex includes the 900-foot-long aircraft carrier Intrepid; the guided missile submarine Growler; and an extensive collection of 27 aircraft including the A-12 Blackbird, the fastest plane in the world, and the British Airways Concorde, the fastest commercial aircraft in the world. Guests can experience areas of the ship including the Flight Deck, Hangar Deck, fo’c’sle (commonly known as the anchor chain room), new multimedia presentations and exhibit collections, interactive educational stations and a state-of-the-art public pier. 

Guests to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum also can experience the 12,240 square-foot interactive Exploreum – which contains a variety of hands-on exhibits – that teaches guests about the different properties of the sea, air, space and living at sea as each relates to the ship Intrepid. In the Exploreum, guests can experience a flight simulator, transmit messages using Morse code, sit on the bunk of a crewmember, learn how the Intrepid turned salt water into fresh water and perform various tasks while wearing space gloves.

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Museum Hours:
April 1 – October 31:
Monday - Friday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday-Sunday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

November 1 – March 31:
Monday-Sunday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Museum Cost of Admission:
Adult: $24.00
Seniors and College Students: $20.00
Youth 7-17: $19.00
Veterans: $17.00
Child 3-6: $12.00
Active Military, Retired Military and Children Under 3: Free

Tickets are available for purchase on the Intrepid’s website, www.intrepidmuseum.org. 

Location:
Pier 86 (46th Street and 12th Avenue), Manhattan

Public Transportation:

Directions by NYC Metro Bus:
Take cross-town buses west. M34 (34th Sts), M42 (42nd St.) or M-50 (49th St.) to 12th Ave. and Hudson River. Intrepid is a short walk North from the M34 and M42. The M50 drops off immediately in front of the Intrepid.

Directions by NYC Metro Subway:
Take the A, C, E, N, Q, R, S, 1, 2, 3 or 7 train to 42nd St., then walk or take the M-42 West Bus to Hudson River (12th Ave). Walk North to Intrepid.

Directions from Water:
Take New York Water Taxi to Pier 84 and walk a block north to the Intrepid Museum. Or from New Jersey take the New York Waterway to Midtown (38th Street) and walk north on 12th Ave to the museum.